Ushangi Khumarashvili

Ushangi Khumarashvili was a major figure in Georgian contemporary painting whose life and work trace the evolution of abstraction in Georgia from the late Soviet era into the 21st century. Born in Dedoplistskaro (Georgia) he studied at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts from 1967 to 1973, focusing on theater painting within the Faculty of Fine Arts, a foundation that informed his understanding of space, drama, and composition. After graduating, he worked at the Telavi Drama Theater from 1974 to 1980 before fully committing to his artistic practice. His career as an exhibiting artist began in the 1970s, and he held his first solo show at the National Gallery of Pictures in Tbilisi in 1994.

Throughout his life, Khumarashvili participated in numerous group exhibitions and major international forums. In 2019 the “Ushangi Khuma 70” anniversary exhibition was mounted at the Dimitri Shevardnadze National Gallery, cementing his status as an influential contemporary artist. In addition to traditional oil painting, his artistic output spanned collage, graphics, assemblage, performance, art objects, and video art, reflecting a restless creative energy and willingness to explore multiple media.

Kumarashvili’s work is best understood within the context of Georgian abstraction. While abstraction in Georgia first appeared in the 1950s and gained renewed momentum in the 1980s and 1990s, his approach was deeply personal rather than overtly political. For him, abstraction was a philosophical study of life, a way to engage with inner experience through generalized, expressive forms rather than specific ideological narratives. His paintings — often oil on canvas depicting locations, people, directions, days, or pure color combinations — uphold the traditions of the classic avant-garde while synthesizing them with his own inner world.

A defining feature of Khumarashvili’s oeuvre is the integration of his personal diary with his visual practice. Extracts from his writings — often fragmented, evocative, and introspective — are inseparable from his paintings, transforming his abstraction into a meta-reality where chaos and order coexist. This interplay gives his abstract works a dramatic, emotional intensity, with surfaces marked by rough trajectories, dynamic contrasts, spot arrangements, and layered textures that evoke both Georgian social experience and universal psychic states.

The main value of Ushangi Khumarashvili’s art lies in this deeply autobiographical approach to abstraction — one that transcends simple stylistic categorization. His practice reflects a continuous search for self-understanding and a unique visual language, drawing on influences ranging from German neo-figurativism to abstract expressionism, yet always rooted in his own lived experience. In doing so, Khumarashvili contributed a singular voice to Georgian modernism: one that bridges tradition and innovation, personal narrative and collective resonance.